Site visits this last week were a much-needed break of PST! The site I visited in the Inhambane province was about a 40-minute chapa ride from Maxixe in Homoine. The 2 volunteers were both Teacher Trainers and lived at the IFP, (Teacher Training Institute) was about a 30-minute walk from the town/market. Their house is really nice—they even have a bathroom with running water (sometimes), an indoor toilet and a small toaster oven. The IFP was beautiful—it was sandy and really sunny which is very different than Namaacha which is all mud and cool weather right now. All the people we met were very nice and welcoming! The students at the IFP are very polite (they all stood up and greeted us when we walked into the classroom). The town itself is really safe and they had a really good market with fresh fruits and vegetables!
We made amazing food: pizzas, chocolate cake, banana bread, breakfast for dinner, coffee cake and no bake cookies! It was the best food I have eaten since I’ve been here. It was really nice to be able to make our own food and live on our own schedule for the week. We also got to see the Indian Ocean in Tofo at the beach there one day this last week—it was really beautiful! I walked with a few other volunteers and collected some pretty cool looking seashells and saw some jellyfish. We even got to watch the elections on the TV where we were staying. It was really fun being able to watch all the drama of the elections in Africa on a beach.
The IFP we visited just bought a primary school down the road and the director wants the next volunteer to do a lot of work or secondary projects with it so that would be perfect for me. I think they want to work on literacy and having more books but I’m not quite sure. I can’t wait to get to site and start teaching (in English) and be able to figure out what other projects I want to accomplish while I’m there. One of the volunteers I visited is in the process of building her own library and bringing in books for the local crianÁas (children) and teachers. It is a really cool project and hopefully can stay useful after she leaves with the help of the community. There are so many different projects that PCVs are doing and I’m getting more and more excited to be able to do my own or at least help out at a local school.
I think I’m ready to be done with PST and get to site so I can start teaching and have my own place. I’m definitely going to miss being with all the other volunteers and having a host family to help me with all my chores (like laundry—since I never do it the right way or can’t seem to get all the dust out of my white socks.)
This Wednesday during HUB day we find out our sites! I’m really excited to know where I’m going and also to know where all the other trainees are going so we can plan on getting together for Christmas and all during service.
Just saw a rat in my house for the first time yesterday during lunch…I thought that would be the only one but then I was on the phone in my room and saw a HUGE rat running across my ceiling and it really grossed me out. I would rather have rats than flies though. I don’t know what it is with me and flies but it’s getting so bad that I don’t even like to hear their buzzing. And if they are in the latrine I cannot go to the bathroom with them buzzing all around me…so that’s been kind of a problem lately.
I found out my LPI results on Friday and they are a lot better than I expected! I actually scored at the Intermediate Mid level which is what I needed to get. I don’t know how accurate it is because right now I am not feeling too strong about my Portuguese skills but hopefully I will soon. Anyone that scored Intermediate Mid or lower now is taking language classes everyday from 1:30-5:30pm instead of our tech classes (learning about classroom management and other education topics). I am actually really glad that I’ll be having the extra language practice—I really need a lot more practice speaking so I think it will help a lot!
Today I went to Mass with some volunteers, am going to watch a good American movie on my laptop and hang out with my host family (and hopefully practice my Portuguese!)
Updates:
-Never been so happy to have a fan in my life than I was during site visits! (boy, does it get hot!)
-Made pizza dough and coffee cake from our Mozambique cookbook this last weekend—it was so yummy! I’m excited to be able to cook once I get all settled in at site.
-I need to get over my fear of driving on hills/roads that are on inclines…it sounds really weird I know but I really don’t like driving when the roads are super uneven (Which is the case in Africa so I really need to work on that)
-Can’t wait to celebrate Thanksgiving…we are cooking all the traditional American dishes and desserts for our Thanksgiving dinner together! I am a little sad to miss the craziness of Black Friday shopping though. Not that I ever buy anything I actually need on that day but it’s just such a fun and crazy atmosphere.
-Site placements next week!
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